The Furies
the relentless punishers of oath breakers
The Furies were an ancient trio of sisters born of primordial rage who hunted those who broke their blood oaths to the gods. Once fair judges, they were corrupted by Ares and set upon Kratos after he renounced his bond, until the Spartan saw through their illusions and destroyed all three.
The Furies, also called the Erinyes, were a trio of ancient sisters who served as the punishers of those who broke their oaths to the gods. They were not Titanides, goddesses, humans, or shades but an independent species, formed at the beginning of time from the madness and rage of a war waged between the Primordials, the ageless creators of Greece. The three sisters were Alecto the Queen, Megaera, and Tisiphone. Tasked to punish the wicked and the treacherous, they became the relentless hunters of Kratos after he broke his blood oath with Ares. (God of War: Ascension)
Origin and purpose#
The Furies were formed at the beginning of time from the madness and rage of a war waged between the Primordials, the ageless creators of Greece. They were tasked to punish the wicked and the treacherous, and they pursued oath breakers without rest, believing that death was too kind a punishment for any blood traitor. As an independent species, they stood apart from goddesses, Titanides, humans, and shades, yet they were older than the Earth itself and counted among the immortals, able to be slain only by a god or a god's weapon. (God of War: Ascension)
The first traitor they punished was the Hecatonchires Aegaeon. When the hundred-armed giant pledged a blood oath to Zeus only to betray him, the Furies hunted him down and tortured him to insanity. Rather than grant him death, they petrified his body and twisted it into a prison where all future traitors would be held forever, the place that came to be known as the Prison of the Damned. (God of War: Ascension)
Corruption by Ares#
For a time the Furies were fair in their judgement and punishment, merciless yet just, condemning only those who truly deserved it. Everything changed when they allied with Ares, who convinced them to help him conspire against Olympus. From that day the crime itself ceased to matter to them, only that the punishment be severe. (God of War: Ascension)
Alecto, the Fury Queen, mated with Ares in the hope of conceiving the prophesied Marked Warrior who would help bring down Olympus. Their child, Orkos, was deemed weak by Ares and disowned. The Furies took pity on him and made him a Fury with the task of keeping the oaths of those who pledged themselves to the gods. Years later the sisters devised the three blood tasks that sealed Kratos's oath to Ares: to kill his enemies, to kill innocents, and to kill his own family. (God of War: Ascension)
The hunt for Kratos#
When Kratos renounced his servitude after being tricked into slaying his wife and daughter, the Furies shrouded his mind and memories and set upon him. Orkos, having learned of the injustice through the Oracle Aletheia, secretly turned against his mothers and aided the Spartan. In retaliation the Furies blinded Aletheia and imprisoned Orkos within Aegaeon. (God of War: Ascension)
The hunt carried Kratos to Delos in search of the Statue of Apollo, where Alecto attacked from the sea in her monstrous form while Megaera and Tisiphone trapped him in an illusion of Sparta. Kratos tore the arm from Megaera and shattered an illusory Tisiphone before Alecto subdued him, but Orkos rescued him. The Furies later captured Kratos once more and dragged him to be tortured within the Prison of the Damned. (God of War: Ascension)
Deaths and Kratos's freedom#
Roused from his torment by a one-armed Megaera, Kratos broke free of his chains and pursued the sisters through the Prison of the Damned. He killed Megaera by driving his Blades of Chaos into her chest as they fell, then entered Alecto's Chamber to face the last two. After seizing the Eyes of Truth, which alone could pierce their illusions, he saw through Tisiphone's spells and the whirlpool conjured around Alecto's monstrous form. He carved open Alecto's skull, killed Tisiphone's summoned creature Daimon, and slew both sisters, ending the Furies' judgement. (God of War: Ascension)
Orkos then revealed that his mothers had remade him the oath keeper before their deaths, binding Kratos anew. At Orkos's own request, Kratos granted him a mercy killing, severing the bond at last. With his freedom came the return of his memories of his slain wife and child, which would haunt him for the rest of his life. (God of War: Ascension)
Powers#
Though not deities, the Furies wielded great power. They were immortal and older than the Earth, possessed superhuman strength, speed, durability, and stamina, and could heal from wounds that would kill a mortal, though they could not regrow lost limbs or recover from fatal injuries. All three could create illusions that only the Eyes of Truth could break, and could take the forms of others. Each sister favored a particular gift: Alecto could transform into a colossal sea monster and ensnare victims in black goo, Tisiphone could warp reality and summon the creature Daimon, and Megaera could secrete parasites that mutated her victims into monsters and could cling to walls with her spider limbs. (God of War: Ascension)
Frequently asked questions
- Who are the Furies in God of War?
- The Furies, also called the Erinyes, were a trio of ancient sisters who served as the punishers of those who broke their oaths to the gods. The three sisters were Alecto the Queen, Megaera, and Tisiphone.
- Where did the Furies come from?
- The Furies were formed at the beginning of time from the madness and rage of a war waged between the Primordials, the ageless creators of Greece. They were an independent species, standing apart from goddesses, Titanides, humans, and shades, and were older than the Earth itself.
- Why did the Furies hunt Kratos?
- The Furies became the relentless hunters of Kratos after he broke his blood oath with Ares. When he renounced his servitude, they shrouded his mind and memories and set upon him, pursuing him across Delos and the Prison of the Damned.
- How were the Furies corrupted?
- For a time the Furies were fair in their judgement, condemning only those who truly deserved it. Everything changed when they allied with Ares, who convinced them to help him conspire against Olympus, after which the crime itself ceased to matter to them, only that the punishment be severe.
- How did Kratos defeat the Furies?
- Kratos killed Megaera by driving his Blades of Chaos into her chest as they fell, then seized the Eyes of Truth, which alone could pierce their illusions. He carved open Alecto's skull, killed Tisiphone's summoned creature Daimon, and slew both remaining sisters, then granted the oath keeper Orkos a mercy killing to sever his bond at last.
Sources
- GameGod of War: Ascension, Santa Monica Studio, 2013
Spotted a factual error or a primary source we missed? Email a correction. Every flagged claim gets reviewed.
Followed from this entry
Aegaeon: the Hecatonchires made a prison
Aegaeon was one of the three Hecatonchires, a giant of many hands who broke a blood oath with Zeus and was punished by the Furies. His vast body was transformed into the living dungeon called the Prison of the Damned, in which Kratos was once chained.
Alecto
Alecto was the Queen of the Furies and the Goddess of Anger, the sister who ruled the trio that hunted Kratos. She mated with Ares to bear the disowned Orkos, ensnared her victims in illusion and black goo, and transformed into a monstrous sea creature before falling to the Spartan's blades.
Hecatonchires
The Hecatonchires were three giants of immense strength born of Ouranos and Gaia, mightier even than the Titans they helped to overthrow. One of their number, Aegaeon, was transformed by the Furies into a vast living prison for those who broke a blood oath with the gods.
Megaera
Megaera was one of the three Furies, the Physical Fury who tormented her victims with brute force and parasitic monsters. After Kratos severed her arm in an earlier clash, she tortured him in the Prison of the Damned, until his escape led to her death and the recovery of the Amulet of Uroborus.
Tisiphone
Tisiphone was one of the three Furies, the Fury of the Mind whose illusions were the cunningest and cruelest of her sisters. She summoned the creature Daimon, warped reality itself, and tormented Kratos with visions of his dead wife before he saw through her spells and broke her neck.
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Mentioned in19 entries
Aegaeon: the Hecatonchires made a prison
Aegaeon was one of the three Hecatonchires, a giant of many hands who broke a blood oath with Zeus and was punished by the Furies. His vast body was transformed into the living dungeon called the Prison of the Damned, in which Kratos was once chained.
Alecto
Alecto was the Queen of the Furies and the Goddess of Anger, the sister who ruled the trio that hunted Kratos. She mated with Ares to bear the disowned Orkos, ensnared her victims in illusion and black goo, and transformed into a monstrous sea creature before falling to the Spartan's blades.
Aletheia: the Oracle of Delphi
Aletheia was the mortal Oracle of Delphi, a seer whose eyes granted her visions of the future and the power to pierce any illusion. When she uncovered the plot of Ares and the Furies to overthrow Olympus, the Furies tore out her eyes and forged them into the Eyes of Truth, and with her dying breath she set Kratos on the path that freed him from his blood oath.
Blades of Chaos: chained to Kratos' arms
The Blades of Chaos were forged in the Underworld for Ares, who seared their chains onto Kratos' forearms. They burn with the fire of Tartarus.
Castor
Castor was the mortal Gemini twin who, with his conjoined demigod brother Pollux, usurped the Temple of the Oracle at Delphi and posed as its prophet. A cruel master who slew his own slaves, he wielded the Amulet of Uroborus against Kratos before the Spartan cast him to his death.
Cerberus Mongrel: the lesser hounds of the Underworld
The Cerberus Mongrels were the weakest breed of the Cerberi, gaunt three-headed hounds that served the lord of the dead. Kratos beat them into submission across two eras of his life, riding them as living weapons and turning the fire of one upon Peirithous to claim the Bow of Apollo.
Eros: the Primordial of Love and Desire
Eros was the Primordial entity of Love and Desire, one of the first beings to come out of Chaos in the Void before the world took shape. He embodied the force that brought new life into the young cosmos. His name was still invoked in the age of Kratos, though his own fate was never recorded.
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The full in-universe chronology of God of War, from the war of the Primordials and the fall of the Titans to Kratos's life in Sparta, his war on Olympus, and the end of the Aesir at Ragnarök. The games give almost no calendar years, so events are ordered by story sequence and grouped into eras, with notes wherever the games' own placement is vague.
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The plot of God of War: Ascension in story order, from Kratos breaking his blood oath to Ares to the deaths of the three Furies and Orkos. Plus how its ending sets up the rest of the Greek saga and where it sits in the timeline.
Hecatonchires
The Hecatonchires were three giants of immense strength born of Ouranos and Gaia, mightier even than the Titans they helped to overthrow. One of their number, Aegaeon, was transformed by the Furies into a vast living prison for those who broke a blood oath with the gods.
How Did Kratos Become the God of War?
Kratos became the God of War by killing the last one. After ten years serving Olympus, he used Pandora's Box to grow to a god's size, killed Ares with the Blade of the Gods, and was given his empty throne. Decades later he took the title again in the north.
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